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Cutting Back

So, I’ve been changing my eating habits lately, mostly in the hopes of getting a little healthier. I think my strategy has been working– I’ve lost 10 lbs since Thanksgiving. Moreover, I have more energy and feel better. My secret? Five little changes (motivated by many sources, but especially the works of Michael Pollan):

• Meat only once or twice a week, and that only 1/4 lb portions. I split a macadamia crusted mahi mahi fillet a few days ago– when you haven’t had meat in a week, even a few bites tastes AMAZING.
• Eat mostly salads / veggie stews / veggie stirfrys. Cook most food from fresh vegetables.
• Try to not eat anything with: high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, corn syrup, modified corn product, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, hydrogenates vegetable shortening, etc. This cuts out most junk food, as well as almost any processed food from the grocery store… there’s a few things in the organic isle at Albertson’s or in Whole Foods, but even there you have to watch for them.
• Avoid “hidden” calories from beverages. I mostly drink water or herbal tea (no milk, no sugar). When you feel hungry, drink a glass of water/tea and wait 15 minutes. If you still feel hungry, then eat food. Otherwise, you were just thirsty.
• (something I’m still getting used to) Order smaller portions at restaurants, and split when possible. Don’t get appetizers. Order from the healthy / reduced calorie menu when possible.

Those 5 guidelines, and I feel healthier than I have in years!

Science Writers 2009 Conference

I recently attended the Science Writers 2009 conference in Austin, Texas, hosted by the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW). Since some of you may not know me, here’s a little bit about where I’m coming from — although I am a PhD graduate student in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, I am also becoming a science writer – I have a blog on stem cells called All Things Stem Cell, did a few posts for Nature’s stem cell blog, “The Niche,” and recently started a column with the Santa Barbara Independent called “Biology Bytes.” With aspirations in mind, I traveled to Austin last weekend (Oct. 17th and 18th) for my first science writers’ convention. Below is coverage on the Saturday workshops and the Sunday morning CASW New Horizons in Science sessions. Yes, the coverage is rather detailed – I tried to give plenty of information for those of you who wanted to attend but could not. I’ve tried to highlight key terms to ease scanning down the story. I also created an amateur photo gallery of my trip. If you want to see more coverage, check NASW’s coverage website or the CASW website.

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Forum on Science Ethics and Policy getting a wider audience

I don’t remember how much I’ve told people about this before, but since moving to Seattle I’ve been involved with a group called the Forum on Science Ethics and Policy. We’re a group of graduate students and post-docs at the University of Washington that is focused on making connections between scientists and the wider public dealing with a variety of issues. We’ve dealt with a pretty wide range of subjects, a few examples range from stem cells, energy policy, net neutrality and drug marketing.

The reason I’m posting now is that we recently reworked our website to make some features that could appeal to people beyond our immediate community, and I figured some of the people around here might find it worth looking at. The most obvious addition was changing the main page to a leadership blog for us to post about things related to FOSEP’s mission.

We had also collected various materials FOSEP members wrote up that was intended to be a resource for people learning about issues, though the static pages tended to become left incomplete or outdated after the creator graduated and nobody took over. To try and get around this we converted those into a wiki format that will be viewable to the public though editable by all FOSEP members. If people have suggestions for changes to make there and don’t have access they could contact me about it.

Pictures from Barcelona, Spain — at a Stem Cell Conference

I recently attended a stem cell conference in Barcelona, Spain. Specifically, the conference was the 7th Annual meeting for the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). I honestly did not get to see a whole lot of the city, as the conference was pretty all-consuming. But, I did try to take pictures of the city as I zoomed by it, and some inside the conference. Read on for details! (continued)

The Great Japan Honeymoon Summary Mega-Post

Andrew and Teisha’s Honeymoon in Japan, from May 19th, 2009 to June 3rd, 2009 was amazing, outrageous, breathtaking, amusing, romantic, and above all great fun. Throughout the trip, we documented and photographed our journey to share with friends and family, as posts on Paradoxdruid’s Rants. Now, we’ve compiled all the posts together, along with some other observations and links into one mega-post for posterity. Read on!
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Day 16 of Japan: Returning to America

Here’s our last pictures of the trip– we’re safe and sound at home now. Travelogue complete!

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Day 15 of Japan: Edo-Tokyo Museum and Souvenir Shopping

Our last full day in Tokyo was quite a trip– we hit the biggest museum, and then wandered some familiar streets for souvenirs. Descriptions to come, once we’re back in the states! Commentary finished!

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Day 14 of Japan: Tsukiji and Harajuku

Our second to last day in Japan was a lazy return to some of our favorite spots in Tokyo. Write-up is now complete!

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